DETROIT — Quick, after Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, who was the third most valuable player on the Detroit Tigers in 2012?

Some daily observers of the American League champions would say Austin Jackson, the center fielder who hit .300 for the first time in his career while setting career highs in home runs (16) and RBI (66) and playing Gold Glove-level defense in center field.

Except he wasn't acknowledged at all by MVP voters.

The Tigers had three players finish in the top nine of the AL MVP voting: The runaway winner Cabrera, Cy Young runner-up Verlander was eighth and first baseman Prince Fielder was ninth.

Even Raul Ibanez received a 10th-place vote, from John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press. This was before his postseason heroics for the New York Yankees. Ibanez hit .240 in the regular season.

Fielder, in his first season in Detroit after signing a nine-year, $214 million deal, actually received a fifth-place vote for MVP, along with five sixth-place votes. One of those sixth-place votes came from Tom Gage of The Detroit News.

Fielder hit a career-best .313 while protecting Cabrera, with 30 home runs and 108 RBI, but was he more valuable to the Tigers than Jackson? He appeared on 19 of 28 MVP ballots.

According to Wins Above Replacment (WAR) — one of the statistics that Cabrera even thought might cost him the MVP — Jackson was at 5.3, while Fielder was 4.5.

Some other interesting notes from how the balloting shook out:

— Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols finished 17th, the first time in his career that he has finished outside the top 10 in MVP balloting.

— Trout is the first rookie to finish second in MVP balloting. Red Sox center fielder Fred Lynn (1975) and Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki (2001) won the award as rookies.

— Only Cabrera, Trout and Texas' Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton appeared on all 28 ballots. Four voters left Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano (who finished fourth overall) completely off their ballot.

— Verlander finished runner-up to David Price for the AL Cy Young, but finished ahead of the Rays left-hander in MVP balloting. Verlander received two fourth-place votes and three fifth-place votes while finishing eighth overall. Price was 12th, receiving a single third-place vote.